Player piano



V. L. PACE.

PLAYER PIANO.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.29. m9.

Patented Jan. 31, 1922.

- 31mm $722,. 2?: c e

' T'n aZZ whom it may concern:

UNITED TATES" PA E T OFFICE.

vane L. PACE, or iamumoiv'nrnxas.

PLAYER. PIANO. I

Be it known that I, VARA L. PAGE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Beaumont, in the county. of Jefferson, State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Player Pianos;

and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as willenable others skilled in'the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention 1 relates to mechanical pianos whose action is operated by pneu -matic mechanisms; and the objects of the same are to improve such mechanisms;

The invention comprises a new form of valve which is self-centering and does away i with the guide pin usually employed, and

an amplification of the wippen so that the striker rod is placed at the front of the pneumatic mechanism where it is accessible and the change in leverage permits the use of a smaller pneumatic.

Details are set forth below and shown 1n the drawings in which:

,Figure '1 is a eneral sectional view of 7 this invention app ied to a piano pla er.

Figure 2 is-a sectional detail showlng the improved valve canted out of its usual vertical position and yet closed against the upper valve seat.

The parts of the piano player mechanism are too well known to need a detailed description here, and I will therefore refer only to such as are concerned'with the point which the invention seeks to improve. The

vacuum chamber 1 has aVvalve-lifting diaphragm 2 at the bottom and an opening at the top directly above this diaphragm.

The opening 3 is enlarged at 4 and then againreduced at 5, this construction being effected by forming the mechanism. of a combination of laminae superposed and bored and channeled to produce the openings and channel required, there being sheets 20 and 21 of material suitable for valve seats, inter osed between the laminae and through which are formed openings as illustrated that register with the openings 3 and 5 and are of the same diameter as the latter. Beneath the enlargement 4 is the lower 1 valve seat, and above the enlargement the upper valve seat, while a channel 6 leads laterally from the enlargement to the pneumatic '7, and it is the closing action of the latter which actuates the wippen and causes Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 31, 1922.

. Application filed December 29,- 1919; Serial No. 847,987.

the hammer to strike the wire. In order thatsthis action may take place successfully, it isnecessary that when the rise of the diaphragm lifts the valve off of its lower seat it shall reliably close it against the upper seat toprevent the admission of air to the pneumatic, while simultaneously connecting the vacuum chamber with the pneumatic to close the latter andstrike the wire.

-Heretofore it has been found that the valve which moves between these two seats often becomes displaced or canted slightly, so that while it maybe retained usually on the lower seat by the suction created in the vacuum chamber, it is not always reliably closed against the upper seat when raised by the diaphragmhence it has been usual and phragm. 12 isthe head of the valve which is usually round and of larger diameter than the foot although of smaller diameter than the enlarged portion 4 in which it stands. The upper face of this head I preferably form slightly convex as seen at 13,

- and this face will fit accurately against the upper valve seat 14, even if the stem is cant- I ed as seen in Figure 2. The lower face of the head may be fiat,- and this will lie upon the lower valve seat 15 against which it is drawn by suction. The head is slightly smaller than the enlargement 4, which permits the valve to have some little lateral play, and yet I find that it will never become displaced to such an extent as to leak.

Another point of my invention is that the wippen 18 has a considerable extension 19 which is carried forward completely over and above the pneumatic mechanism, and

the striker rod 17 leads upward from the pneumatic 7 to a point beneath the forward end of this extension 19 so that as the pneumatic is collapsed the extension is raised and the wippen is actuated to cause the hammer to strike a string or 'wire. -The permits Ine to'use a f smaller pneumatic,

1neohanism;than usual, and with 21 311194111 mechanism" leakage would be fata1;-t0,,;the succeseful operation and therefore the im fproi ecl valve el' ove d esoribecl' becomes" a practicalnecessity. Vhat 1s CliLlIIlGCliLSHGW "1s :7 V

teiizil-between: them and. having alining openings?Ttherethrough of which theopening of the. intermediate lamina is of larger diameteiithan'the remainingopenings', said intermediate lamina havingfa channel communioating withiitsopening, the valve seat material extending over thenpper and lower wane of theenlargednpening to eonstitute Intestimony whereof, I afiix my ture in the presence oftwo Witnesses.

'vlve seats and having openings therethroughv registering Withand of the same eter greater than that of the opening through either valvejseat materiel; the'heacl I having one? faee spheri-sectional and having The combination with "a plurality of superimposedlaminae 'hztvingvalve seat ma its other face flat, and 2t stem projecting Vin the enlarged opening and having a cliainfrom the fiat face of the":hetcl-anclucoaxial with the extension of the axis'ofthe head. I s gnat- VABA PACEJ OLIVER; -Tonn, 

